As The Clock Ticks On
by DixieGoddess
Summary: Tea's dance studio is holding a 24 hour dance competition. She needs a partner: Someone strong, someone with energy, somone who won't get distracted, someone like... Kaiba...? SetoTea! A lot can happen in 24 hours... CHAP. 7 UP!
1. Prologue

Hey everyone! Well, this is my... I believe, second Yu-Gi-Oh fic. It's a Seto/Tea and some Joey/Mai flirting is thrown in at certain parts. Maybe some Tristan swooning over Serenity... who knows. I just hope you all enjoy it!

Disclaimer: There was this little leprachaun that came and told me that I owned all of Yu-Gi-Oh... but for some reason the government didn't believe me and gave me a bunch of little white pills to take each day. So, I guess I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh at the present. But if I ever find that leprachaun and take him to trial with me...

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PROLOGUE

"And don't forget class, our annual 24 hour dance competition will be held this Saturday starting at 6am! I hope to see you all there! Don't forget to bring a partner! Class dismissed!"

The teacher clapped her hands as a final dismissal and whisked herself out of the room with grace that only a dancer could possess. Tea Gardner slipped off her dance shoes and gathered up her bag. After saying quick good-byes to her classmates she stepped out into the perfect summer afternoon.

Her thoughts drifted to this year's 24 hour dance competition. She wanted to win so badly. For the past 3 years, ever since deafeating Johnny Steps at the arcade, he had been able to retaliate by beating her at each 24 hour dance competition since they had started; conveniently being the year she had beat him.

The first year, she had chosen one of her classmates from the dance academy to be her partner. He ended up dehydrating himself and collapsed at hour 12.

Year two, she had someone else from the academy be her partner. He, unfortunately, turned out to be a total slime-ball, groping her constantly throughout the evening. That year, she only lasted until hour 3 before she smacked him and stormed out of the gym.

Last year... Tea sighed as she thought of last year. She had been so _close_! Learning her lesson from the previous two years, she didn't ask anyone from her class to be her partner, but instead had opted for one of her friends. Yugi, sadly, was a tad on the short side, meaning he wouldn't be able to support Tea when she got tired, and, unfortunately, would get pretty tired himself from having to dance on his poor, short legs.

Tristan: Tea, truthfully, didn't trust him to stay awake for a straight 24 hours unless he was playing a video game. She had a feeling that he'd collapse sometime within the first 10 hours.

So that left Joey. Joey could stay awake for long periods of time, plus seemed to have an abundant supply of energy. She had been so sure she would win that time!

Her train of thought was interrupted by someone's shadow falling over her. She turned her head only to come face to face with none other than Johnny Steps himself.

"Tea," he greeted, stiffly.

"Johnny," she returned, just as stoic.

"Dance competition coming up on Saturday."

"So I hear."

"You going?"

"Where else would I go?"

"I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

"I think I can manage myself just fine."

"Alright."

"Alright."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Johnny simply walked off, Tea glaring after him. Oh, she -would- win this year... no matter what.

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The group (aka: Tea, Tristan, Joey, and Yugi) were all sitting/standing around the front desk of the game shop, conversing about nothing in particular. "So, Tea," Joey started, looking up from his deck that he had been organizing. "Isn't your 24 hour dance thingy coming up soon?"

"That's right, Tea!" Yugi chimed in excitedly. "I just know you'll win this year. The past 3 loses were just freak accidents."

Tea smiled at her short, optimistic friend. "Thanks, Yugi. But I still need a partner."

"Well, I hope you choose better this time," Joey said. "Your previous partners were all losers."

Tea glared at him. "Yeah, I know."

"Hey, I meant besides me!" he yelled back, indignantly. "Really, Tea, you gotta get over that. I said I was sorry!"

"But we were so close! And then you- you-" Unable to finish her sentence in her fit of rage, Tea merely pointed a finger at the blonde and let the accusation hang in the air.

"Now, come on you two," Yugi pleaded. He didn't want a fight to break out between two of his best friends. "That's past. Let's just focus on this year. Who can we get to be Tea's dance partner?"

"Well," Tristan spoke up for the first time in awhile. "He needs to be strong 'cause Tea's kinda heavy when she gets tired."

"And just what does _that_ mean?" Tea snapped.

Tristan panicked. "Eh heh heh... nothing..."

"And he's gotta have enough energy to stay awake the full 24 hours," Yugi continued quickly, once again playing peacemaker.

"And he can't get easily distracted," Tea said, somewhat bitterly, throwing a dirty look towards Joey.

"Well, it's not like you were helping any!" he countered, defensively.

Yugi looked to be deep in thought. "So, who do we know that fits that description?" The group pondered this for a moment before Tea sighed.

"I can't think of anyone," she moaned. "I'm just doomed."

Tristan slapped her on the back in a friendly gesture, though it just earned him a disapproving glare. "Aw, don't worry about it Tea. It's only Tuesday. You got practically a week to scope out a partner. You'll find someone."

"Tristan's right," Yugi piped up. "Don't worry about it. We'll even help you look."

Tea smiled at her friends. They really were great guys. "Thanks." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "I better get going. I'm supposed to start dinner tonight." She waved good-bye to her friends before stepping out into the slowly approaching dusk.

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Tea walked briskly through the park, the shortcut to her home. A group of children were playing baseball off to the right but she didn't pay them any attention... that is, until a ball came whizzing towards her head. "WATCH OUT!" someone yelled, and Tea quickly whipped her head towards the voice, just in time to get belted in the forehead by the ball.

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"Tea...? Tea...?" The brunette slowly opened her eyes at the sound of the small, worried voice nearby. "Tea...?" She recognized that voice! But from where? "Tea, you ok?"

Her blurred vision finally focused and she looked up to a hoarde of children, most likely the baseball players, hovering above her sprawled out body. She glanced around and her gaze finally landed on the source of the familiar voice. "Mokuba?" she questioned, groggily, her mind still fuzzy.

The younger boy's face broke into a grin. "Hey! You feeling ok?"

Tea gingerly brought a hand up to touch her forehead and almost immediately flinched away. 'Ow... big lump...' "I just got creamed by a baseball," she grumbled in response to the child's question.

Mokuba sweat-dropped. "Heh... so, I take that as a 'no'." He looked down at her again, a serious look covering his face. "But, seriously, are you alright? You don't need to go to the hospital or anything, do you?"

Tea pushed herself to her elbows, closing her eyes for a moment as the blood rushed out of her head. "I'll be fine."

One of the other kids spoke up. "I'm really sorry, Miss." He tried to hide the bat behind his back, but Tea instantly deduced that he had been the one to hit the ball at her.

She flashed him a small smile. "Don't worry about it. Accidents happen. Just be more careful next time, ok?"

He nodded and looked relieved that he wasn't going to be yelled at.

"Mokuba." Tea turned towards the cold voice as did the kids. Most of the children suddenly became quite uncomfortable and closed in tighter around Tea as if she might protect them. Seto Kaiba towered over them all, looking down at his little brother. "Time to go," she demanded and turned away, expecting Mokuba to follow.

"Ok, big brother. Bye everyone!" The children meekly waved. "See ya, Tea! Hope ya feel better!" He took off after Kaiba, already starting to chatter endlessly to his big brother.

The children dispersed from their clump but Tea still sat on the ground. She stared after the Kaiba brothers, and as she stared an idea started to enter her head. The more she thought about it, the more she started to like it. And the more she started to like it, the more she thought she was absolutely insane. Maybe she had been hit a bit too hard with that baseball, but for some reason she found herself jumping off the ground and running after them. "Kaiba!"

The two froze at the sound of her voice and turned towards her. Mokuba looked at her with a curious expression; Kaiba with his trademark glare. However, she remained unfazed and walked right up to them. "So... how you been?"

Kaiba stared at her, slightly confused. "Fine," he replied, cooly.

"That's good."

The two remained silent a minute, Mokuba glancing back and forth between the two. "Is that all you wanted?" Kaiba asked, annoyed.

"No."

Silence once again.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

Kaiba was more than in a bad mood by now. But he would _not_ lose his temper. Not in front of his little brother. "Well, what did you want?"

"I wanted to ask you a question."

Silence...

Kaiba sighed, disgusted. "If you're just trying to waste my time, I'll be leaving now." He turned to go, but Tea grabbed his arm.

"Hold on! Wait! I'm not trying to waste your time, I just wanted to make sure you were listening."

"I'm listening. So talk."

"Ok, well, I have a small favor to ask you."

Hell no. Upon hearing these seemingly innocent words, Kaiba immediately turned and started walking again. Do a favor for one of Yugi's friends? Not on his watch.

"Big brother!" Mokuba scolded, running after him. Seto looked down at him. "Come on, all she wants is a favor. It can't be that bad." He gave Seto a puppy-dog look, making the CEO sigh at his brother's damn cuteness and turn back around.

"What kind of favor?"

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Yay! I made a prologue! That's right, I'm great! Eh heh... ' please review!

--DixieGoddess

Song Quote of the Week: So, why not take a crazy chance? Why not do a crazy dance? If you lose the moment you may lose a lot. So, why not?- "Why Not"- Hilary Duff


	2. Scared Of Girls?

Wow, I actually wrote a whole new chapter in less than week. O.O That hardly ever happens with me! But I guess I was just so inspired by all the positive reviews I got! I thank you all!

Disclaimer: Once upon a time there was a girl named DixieGoddess, and she owned all of the Yu-Gi-Oh world! She was the happiest girl alive! But then, the government stepped in and told her that she was not the rightful creator of Yu-Gi-Oh and she owned squat. She was very disappointed and upset and tried to kill Mr. Government Man. But that didn't work and he filed lawsuit against her. So she decided to be good and just admit that she didn't own anything and her life was pathetic... What a crappy story, huh?

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CHAPTER 1

"Would you stop following me!"

"You didn't answer my question!"

"I didn't feel the need to."

Mokuba watched this exchange with mild fascination. It had been five minutes of chaos and, if you're Mokuba, humor. Apparantly, Tea's dance studio was holding a 24 hour dance competition this coming Saturday and, for reasons unknown, had asked his big brother to be her partner.

At first, Kaiba had just stood there stunned, waiting for, perhaps, a signal that this was all a joke. But as soon as he realized she was serious, he immediately spun around and walked in the opposite direction as quickly as he could without making himself look scared.

Mokuba had also been shocked, to say the least. It was common knowledge that his big brother didn't get along with many people, especially those who were somehow connected with Yugi. And in turn, people just didn't ask him for those kinds of favors. Most probably wouldn't even _want_ him to be their dance partner if he _did_ accept!

The younger boy sighed. Maybe Tea _had_ been hit harder than he thought. He watched as Seto threw another insult to Tea and she countered it, still keeping in stride with him. Mokuba had to walk slightly faster to keep up with the two bickering teens.

He wasn't sure what Tea hoped to gain out of having his brother as her partner. He thought that as soon as Seto declined her request, she would leave, probably knowing that she should've expected that response. But unfortunately, for Seto, that just wasn't the case. She had trailed him about halfway across town by now. Mokuba looked around. Weren't they supposed to be heading back to the office? Wasn't that in the other direction?

"Umm... Seto?" he called, meekly, running up and tugging slightly on the CEO's sleeve. Seto stopped walking and looked down at his brother. "Isn't the office _that_ way?" He pointed in the opposite direction.

Taking a brief galnce around at his surroundings, Seto muttered a few curses under his breath and pushed past Tea, heading back the way he came.

"It's really not that bad!" Tea continued, still persistenly following him.

Seto didn't answer.

"Would you at least _stop_!?" She hopped in front of him, blocking his path.

"Listen," Seto started in a deadly voice. "I'm a very busy person. I don't have time for lame dance competitions. And even if I did, I sure as hell wouldn't go with you! So get out of my way!"

Huffing indignantly, Tea stepped to the side, allowing Seto to quickly continue his path to work. Mokuba looked at Tea for a second, then over to his big brother, then back to Tea. She really did seem down about not convincing Seto to be her partner. What was the big deal? Wouldn't she rather have one of her friends as partners anyway?

But still...

He looked over at his big brother's retreating back. The guy really could use some more social interaction. Mokuba had always been trying to persuade Seto to at least make a couple friends, get involved in, perhaps, _one_ club, maybe even get a girlfriend. But he was just too stubborn. Wait a minute...

The last thought from his list of things Seto wouldn't do slowly turned around in his little head. He took quick glances back and forth between the two teenagers.

Seto

Tea

Seto

Tea

Seto

Tea

Seto AND Tea!

Seto, Tea, and a whole 24 hours of nothing but physical contact!  
Perfect...

"Seto!" He ran after his brother, trying desperately to catch up with the elder Kaiba's long strides. "You know, Seto, I think I know why you're refusing Tea's request," he said, in a sly voice.

"Because I hate her and wouldn't join a dance competition to save my life?" Seto suggested.

"Because you're afraid of being close to a girl!" Mokuba accused.

Seto stopped walking and glared down at his little brother. "Don't be ridiculous, Mokuba. Why would I be afraid of being close to a girl?"

Mokuba rocked back and forth, hands behind his back, innocently looking around at his surroundings. "Well, it's just that you've never really been on a date or anything, and you don't talk to girls much-"

"I have better things to do."

"Well, sure. But I think you would still be scared of spending such a long amount of time close to Tea."

Seto snorted. "Near one of Yugi's pathetic little friends? What is there to be scared of?"

Mokuba looked off to the side and shrugged as if expecting this. "Alright. I understand if you want to stay in denial. Not many people like to admit they're afraid of girls."

"I AM NOT AFRAID OF GIRLS!" Seto was fuming now. He knew it was probably just one of his brother's manipulating little tricks on his pride to make him do something he didn't want to do. But still... the kid was _good_.

"Of course you aren't, Seto," Mokuba returned in a voice stating that he didn't believe him, and started walking away. He heard Seto sigh behind him and knew that he had won. A small smirk made its way onto his face as his brother stepped in front of him.

"Alright. I'll do it. But only to prove that I'm not afraid of anything, especially a little girl!"

Mokuba smiled.

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Tea lounged back against her pillow. 'What was I thinking, asking Kaiba anyway? I should've known better. And then when he refused me, why did I keep following him? I really must've been hit harder with that baseball than I thought. Speaking of which...' She reached up to touch the small lump forming on her forhead. "Ouch!" It was still extrememly tender. "I should really put some ice on this."

Just as she reached the kitchen, the phone rang. Tea sighed, just inches from the freezer where the soothing ice would be. But she stepped away and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Tea!" an excited voice shouted from the other end.

Tea held the receiver a bit away from her ear to lessen the shock of the boy's shout. "Mokuba?"

"Great news, Tea! Seto agreed to be your partner this Saturday!"

Tea almost dropped the phone. 'He... what?' "Mokuba, is this some kind of joke?" she asked, skeptically.

"No!" Mokuba argued quickly. "Really! I swear! The words came directly from his mouth!"

Tea was more than confused by now. "What made him change his mind?"

Mokuba put on his innocent voice. "I don't know. I guess he just decided to do this out of the kindness of his heart."

Tea almost laughed aloud, but remembered that she was talking to Kaiba's brother and he might be offended. "Well... that's great... I guess. Thanks."

"What are you thanking me for?"

Tea smiled. She knew that if Kaiba really had agreed to be her dance partner, his brother had had some say in it. "Oh, nothing. Bye."

"Bye, Tea!"

She hung up, feeling slightly better. She had a partner! She had a good partner! She-

Wait a minute! She had... KAIBA... as a partner!? What _was_ she thinking!?

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Tea stepped from the bathroom the next morning, towel drying her hair as she made her way back to her bedroom. She had just stepped through the door when the phone rang. She glanced at the phone suspiciously. The last phone call she got was full of nothing but bad news. However, ringing phones are meant to be answered so she reluctantly picked up the receiver and muttered a tiny 'hello'.

"Hey, Tea!"

She relaxed at the sound of Yugi's perky voice on the other end. "Hey, Yugi. What's up?"

"Well, me and the guys have some good news for you!"

"Really? 'Cuz I could use some good news."

"Mm-hm! So, can you come over?"

Tea threw the towel on her bed and started slipping on her shoes. "I'm on my way!"

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"Great, you're here!" Joey called, enthusiastically from the doorway of the living room. "Come on! We got some real excitin' news for ya!" He grabbed Tea's arm and dragged her to the couch, pushing her down. The guys assembled a line in front of her, looking proud of themselves.

"Ummm... ok. What's this all about?" Tea asked, curiously.

The guys looked at eachother and nodded. "We found you a partner!" Joey exclaimed.

Tea's face revealed shock and confusement. "A... partner?"

"Yeah!" Tristan jumped into the conversation. "You know, for the dance competition."

"You... did?"

Yugi nodded. "Yep! He's really nice! And he won't get distracted, and Joey says that he's competed in one of these before so we don't think he'll get tired."

Tea perked up. "He's competed in a 24 hour dance competition before?"

The guys looked sheepish for a second before Joey spoke up. "Well... not exactly. In fact, it wasn't really a competition... and he didn't really do that well..."

Tea sweat-dropped. "Great... sounds perfect..." she droned sarcastically.

Tristan plopped down next to her. "Aw, come on, Tea! He's really excited about this! He said he would do his best, and he's looking forward to meeting you!"

"So, you're setting me up with this guy?" Tea hated being set up. She could get her own boyfriend if she wanted to, thank you very much.

"Don't think of it as a set-up. Think of it as planned destiny!" Tristan slapped her on the back again and earned a glare from Tea. He really needed to cut back on the back-slaps.

Tea sighed. "This is really sweet of you guys, and I thank you all very much. But it's ok. I already found a partner."

Now it was the guys' turn to be shocked and confused. "When?" Joey asked, stupidly.

"Yesterday. When do you think I had any other time?"

Joey shrugged.

Yugi cocked his head at Tea. "Who is it?"

'Oh crap.' This was _not _going to be good. When Tea had first asked Kaiba to be her partner, she never thought about how her friends would react to the news or how they would act when they actually came to sit and watch her. Chances were there would be insults and fights and it would probably be better and less violent if she didn't go at all.

But, then again, she didn't want to call up Kaiba now and cancel on him after she had pestered him so much yesterday. Plus, she was sure that Mokuba had had to do some serious work convincing his brother to agree and she didn't want to make him feel like all his persuading tactics were for nothing. "Well... umm..." was all that came out. She looked down, suddenly becoming very interested in her skirt.

"Is it someone we know?" Yugi prodded.

'Gee, I don't know. You've just been mortal enemies since who knows when.' She merely nodded.

Joey was growing impatient. Why wouldn't she just say who it was already!? "And his name would be...?"

"Kaiba."

The three boys leaned back as if the shock from her words was a physical blow. Joey was the first to recover. "Uh... Tea? Did you just say 'Kaiba'? As in Seto Kaiba? As in, _Seto Kaiba_ is going to be your partner?"

"Yes, I did." Best to just get it out in the open.

The boys looked at eachother and then Joey started laughing. "Oh, I get it! Good one, Tea!"

Tea looked up at him. He thought she was joking? Why would she joke about that? "Really." Her voice was barely above a whisper now.

Joey stared at her, incredulous. "Kaiba!?" he practically yelled. "_Kaiba_ is your partner!?"

"Now, Joey, calm down," Yugi pleaded.

"Come on, Yug! You can't tell me you're not appalled at this! I mean... Kaiba!"

Tristan merely sat there, dumbfounded. Yugi placed a hand on Joey's arm, attempting to cease his friend's shouts. "I'm sure Tea has a perfectly good explanation," he said, though he didn't sound too sure of that himself.

Joey turned back to Tea. "Alright then. Fine. Let's hear it, Tea."

Tea squirmed under her friends' stares. They were all looking at her so intently demanding answers that she didn't have. "Look, I don't know, ok! I got hit in the head with a baseball yesterday-"

"He hit you with a baseball?!"

"NO! Joey, could you _please_ just let me tell the story?" He humphed and she continued. "I got hit by a baseball as I was walking through the park, and when I woke up there were little kids all around me-"

"Sounds like some freaky scene out of The Wizard of Oz."

"JOEY!"

"Sorry! Sorry! Continue."

"So anyway, one of the kids was Mokuba, and then Kaiba showed up to take him home or to the office or whatever, and as they were walking away... I dunno... I guess I just started thinking that Kaiba would be a good person to have for a partner. I mean, he's pretty strong, right? He would be able to support me if I got tired."

"But why would you want him to?" Joey grumbled under his breath.

"And he's always awake for long periods of time, so I wouldn't have to really worry about him falling asleep or anything. Plus, he won't get distracted!" She shot a look at Joey at the last part.

"And how did I know you were gonna bring _that_ up?" he muttered.

"Look, I know you guys aren't particularly happy about this; I'm not either for that matter. But I wanna win, and Kaiba's my best bet. It's just 24 hours and then I never have to speak to him again!"

Tristan finally decided to speak. "So, how did you get him to agree to this anyway? I mean, Kaiba's not really Mr. Flashdance." Tristan may have had a way of always jumping in at odd times, but it was always with important questions.

Heads turned to Tea. "Well, first I followed him around a lot, and I think I kinda wore him down. And then I think Mokuba must've talked to him later."

Joey looked disgusted. "You followed him around?" he repeated. "Sounds like you really wanted him for your partner."

Tea blushed, unable to stop the heat rising to her face. "I probably just got hit too hard by the stupid baseball!" she defended. "Now that I think about it, I don't know why I did it either!"

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments. Nobody really knew what to say. Yugi decided to step in and try to set things right. He cleared his throat. "Look, guys. Tea's right. Kaiba -would- be a good choice for a 24 hour long competition, and it's not like she ever needs to talk to him again afterwards. So, we should all just try to be supportive. I know she knows what she's doing."

Tea smiled gratefully at her small friend. "Thanks, Yugi."

Joey crossed his arms. "I still don't like it... but... hey, I trust you too, Tea. Good luck."

Tristan raised his hand preparing for one of his back-slaps. "Ditto!"

Tea stopped his hand before he had a chance to hit her. "Tristan! No more slaps! Ok?" He merely shrugged and lowered his hand. Tea stood. "Ok, well, I'm gonna go. Bye, guys!"

"See ya."

Tea stepped outside and closed the door behind her, but not before hearing Joey say "I hope she knows what she's gettin' herself into."

She walked to the sidewalk, stopped, and tilted her head down, sighing. 'I hope I do too...'

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I find myself with nothing to say about the conclusion of this chapter except please review!

--DixieGoddess

Song Quote of the Week: Sometimes, I'm clueless and I'm clumsy. But I got friends who love me. And they know just where I stand.- "Who I Am"- Jessica Andrews


	3. Ladies and Gentlemen: Start Your Feet!

-Cowers- I am a horrible person! But hey! At least I AM updating! It's not like I just left it unfinished forever cuz I got bored with it. Trust me, I'll never get bored with this story. It is so much fun to write! I just need to learn to enjoy the… uh… fun more often. Really – I am so sorry for not updating in over a year. But it's my resolution this year to update my fics much more often. (MUST update fics more often so Hannah doesn't kill me. -Suck up smile and wave to Hannah-) Anyway, Happy Holidays – whatever you may celebrate. Enjoy chapter 3 of As The Clock Ticks On.

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THE BIG DAY... WELL, BIG MORNING AT ANY RATE

Mokuba death-glared into the microwave as he reheated his brother's coffee for the third time. 'He should be down here by now. What's taking him so long?' He averted his gaze to the clock on the far wall. 'He has to be at the hall in forty-five minutes and he should really eat before he goes. Who knows what kinda crap food the people running this thing are gonna give him.' "SETO!"

There was no answer from anywhere upstairs. The microwave beeped and Mokuba pulled the mug out and slammed it on the table. "SETO! COME ON! I MADE YOU COFFEE! THE GOOD KIND!"

Still no answer.

Sighing, Mokuba headed up the stairs and pushed open his brother's bedroom door. Strangely enough, there was no Seto and the bed didn't even look as though it had been touched. Mokuba closed the door and ran down the hall to his brother's office. Sure enough, there was Seto, asleep at his desk, some weird screen saver illuminating his face as he slept. "SETO! WHAT'RE YOU DOING! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE GETTING READY!"

Seto didn't wake up; merely shifted a little and waved his hand. "Yeah, I'll take care of that tomorrow."

Mokuba rolled his eyes and stomped up to his brother. "NO! NOT TOMORROW! NOW!" Still not getting a response, Mokuba picked up a rather large binder from his brother's desk and smacked him upside the head. "SETO!"

Seto's head shot up with a start. "But I wanna hula-hoop!"

Mokuba gave him a weird look. "Well, then I'll go buy you a hula-hoop later. But right now you have to get ready for the dance marathon."

"What time is it?" Seto grumbled, sleepily.

"It's a quarter after 6. You're supposed to pick Tea up at 6:30, remember?"

"No."

"Well, you are."

"I don't remembering agreeing to have the creature in my car."

"Your coffee's waiting downstairs." Mokuba turned to leave.

"I don't remember this at all," Seto continued. "Remember having that conversation about how I'm supposed to actually be -present- when we have conversations? No more talking to imaginary Seto's?"

"You _were_ present."

"Was I concious?"

"Yes."

"Was I on something?"

"Not that I know of, Seto."

"Really? Because if I was present, concious, and sober I think I would remember the conversation where I agreed to pick the thing up and let it travel with me in _my_ car. and yet, I don't."

"You're wasting time, Seto."

"Says the kid who made us almost an hour late for a baseball game last year because he had to find his lucky underwear."

Mokuba glared at his brother. "That was not last year!"

"Yeah, you're right. It was only 9 months ago."

"You have 5 minutes to get dressed, drink your cold coffee, and pick Tea up." Mokuba then sprinted out of the room before Seto could start another argument about not picking up his partner.

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Tea scooted into the passenger seat of Kaiba's car. "You're late."

"And you're annoying. So there, we're even." Kaiba pulled the car out of the driveway and sped down the street.

"You could go a little slower, you know."

"You could shut the hell up and let me drive, you know."

Tea huffed and leaned back in her seat. 'Fancy car,' she thought to herself. She didn't dare say it aloud. No need to boost the jerk's ego anymore than necessary. 'Ooo, lots of buttons. Wonder what the red one does.' "Hey what's this do?" She reached for the button.

"Piss me off," Kaiba retorted, smacking her hand away.

Tea glared at the CEO. "You could be a little nicer to me. I _am_ your date after all."

"NO. You are my _partner_. Not _date_."

"What's the difference?"

"There's a BIG difference, woman, and don't you ever forget it."

Tea slapped her hands on the seat in exasperation. "You know, maybe it _was_ a mistake asking you to be my partner!"

"Great. Does that mean I can turn the car around and go home?"

"NO!" Tea closed her eyes and counted to ten. 'You're doing this to beat Johnny,' she reminded herself. 'You're gonna beat his obnoxious ass into the ground, wave the trophy in his face, and do a very unlady-like victory dance around his sad, defeated corpse. You can do it!'

"Why are you smirking like that?"

Tea opened her eyes and shifted her gaze to Kaiba. "I was just thinking about something."

"What?"

"I'll let you wonder." She winked at him. Kaiba cringed and returned his attention to the road immediately. Tea gave herself a mental pat on the back. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

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"Why the hell do we have to be an hour early? The damn thing doesn't start until 8. This place sucks, and this contest sucks, and the people running it probably suck - as most people who have the time to organize absurd things such as dance marathons usually do."

"Wow, you're just Mr. Sunshine this morning aren't you?" Tea grumbled sarcastically, as she climbed out of the car. "Ok, first things first, we need to get our numbers. Then we should probably get some coffee or something because they don't have many breaks in this thing."

Kaiba stood beside her, glaring at the open doors to the big dance hall and all the cheery people that were conversing merrily, as if they didn't have a care in the world. Did they not realize what insanity they were willingly taking part in? Did they not fully comprehend that 24 hours was a _really_ long time and they were expected to moving constantly during that _really_ long time? Did they not realize that there were better, more important things that could be done on a day like this? Like work? Like not converse with anyone or anything except maybe certain little brothers and some dumbass co-worker that would be fired the next day?

What is WRONG with people these days!?

"Kaiba?" Tea waved a hand in front of his face, breaking him out of his pissed-off trance.

Kaiba blinked and acted as though he had never spaced-off. "So, are you ever going to reveal the monstrosity of a dress I'm sure you picked out, or am I just supposed to be amazed by your ability to keep a trenchcoat buttoned around your obese form?"

Tea grit her teeth. 'Stay cool, Tea! Remember; unlady-like victory dance around Johnny's defeated corpse!' "We should..." Deep breath "...Go get our numbers and..." Twitch "...Grab some coffee." She stalked off, stiffly, to the sign-in table, Kaiba following with a smug smirk on his features.

The lady at the table smiled up at them as they approached. "Name please?"

"Tea Gardner-"

"HEY!"

Tea spun to face Kaiba, ready to smack him for causing a disturbance. But she froze in her tracks at the sight of Ryou on the ground..... with Kaiba's wallet clutched in his hand. "Ryou! What are you-" She cut her own sentence off as the boy's eyes, which had previously been closed, looked up at her. Those weren't Ryou's eyes. "Ba-"

"BAKURA!" Before she could stop him, Kaiba leaped on top of the ancient tomb robber. Bakura screeched in a very un-manly warcry and struggled underneath the 6 foot-plus CEO trying to get his wallet back. "Give it back, you psychotic bastard!"

"It's mine!"

"No, it's not!"

"I need to feed my children!"

"You don't have any children! And you never will, because everyone knows you're gay with your hikari!"

Tea sighed, her head in her hands. This was the perfect way to start off 24 hours of constant conciousness.

"My relationships are none of your damn business, you prick!"

Kaiba finally pried the wallet from the thief's hands and jumped up, placing it calmly back in his pocket as though nothing had happened.

Bakura stood quickly after that and pointed a finger at Kaiba. "You go and enjoy your mortal money, fool! Enjoy it while you can! Because soon-"

"You will have all the Millenium Items and the world will belong to you, as well as our pathetic mortal lives. Right?" Seto smirked.

Bakura stared blankly at him, obviously stunned at having his speech interrupted - correctly, too. He opened his mouth to yell, but only managed to stutter like an idiot for a few moments. Eventually, the only words he could get out were 'Down the drain!' and then he stormed off, probably to look for Ryou.

Kaiba turned back to Tea who was now glaring at him profusely. "What the hell are you looking at me like that for?"

"You just caused a scene."

"I didn't! He did!"

"Everybody is staring at us."

Kaiba shoved his hands into his pockets, smirking. "Well, you were the one who invited me here. Now, you have to put up with me."

Tea shook her head and turned back to the stunned woman at the sign-in table. The lady seemed to quickly recover, though her voice and smile were still shaky. "Tea Gardner and Seto Kaiba, was it?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Tea made a face and held the styrofoam container away from her as though it were a bomb. "This tastes awful!"

Kaiba snorted. "Then don't drink it, idiot."

Despite the coffee's poison-like texture, Tea poured more down her throat. "But if I don't, I'll never be able to stay awake."

"That would be the tragedy of a lifetime," Kaiba muttered sarcastically. His eyes scanned the gym. "When are your stupid friends getting here?" 'Please, let her say 'never'.'

"They usually don't get here until about one o'clock." Tea crumpled the now emply coffee cup and tossed it at the trash. It missed.

Kaiba couldn't hold in a mocking laugh. "Jeez, Gardner. The thing's two feet from you!"

"Oh, shut up, Kaiba!" She blushed, embarassed, and picked up the difiant cup, slamming it in the garbage can.

"ATTENTION, PARTICIPANTS! We will begin in 5 minutes! I repeat, the competition will commence in 5 minutes! Anyone not on the dance floor will automatically forfeit the match! So I repeat, 5 minutes - all dancers to the floor!" The perky dance teacher swept herself offstage. She was obviously more excited than the dancers themselves, considering she just got to sit and referee.

"We should get to the floor," Tea sighed. This was really it. She was really going to go through with this. She was really, actually going to dance 24 hours with Seto Kaiba, her best friend's sworn enemy, just to beat Johnny Steps at some competition.

"Tea."

Speaking of Johnny...

"Well, hello, Johnny. Didn't think you were going to make it," Tea stated in a clipped, haughty tone.

"Keep dreaming, Has-been."

Tea had to bite her tongue to keep from verbally lashing out at him. 'Come on, Tea. You know the only reason he's being such an ass is to get a rise out of you. So, DON'T GIVE IN!'

Johnny gazed around boredly. "So, where's your lame-o partner for this year?" he asked, pulling his own partner, a frizzy-haired redhead with a much-too-short skirt and way-too-skimpy top on, closer to his side. She grinned not-so-nicely at Tea as she wrapped her arms around Johnny's neck, as if to say, 'I'm with this hunk and we're gonna win, while you're probably stuck with some loser that'll ditch ya in the 4th round'.

"You're standing right next to him," a deep voice growled from his right.

Johnny looked up at Kaiba, startled. But only for a second. Then his expression melted away into amusement. "You gotta be _kidding_ me! You think you're gonna beat me with Mr. Moneybags as your partner!? The only thing that guy knows how to do is stamp things and shove sticks up people's asses!"

Kaiba's eyes glinted, murderously and he stepped forward before Tea could mouth off to Johnny herself. Without effort, he grabbed the smaller man away from his date who was pretty much cowering behind him by that time, and brought him up so they were eye-to-eye. "You think you can beat me so easily?" he whispered so only the surrounding people could hear. "You think your pathetic 'dancer' techniques can outdo me? It's not how fancy you are getting there - it's who's left standing in the end that counts. And you can count on it being us." He released the dancer so his feet were back on the ground, and he stumbled back to his date.

"We'll see about that," was the only retort, and he grabbed his date by the waist and hauled her off to the dance floor.

Tea stared up at Kaiba shocked. He had suddenly become so invigorated with the competition. A few seconds ago, he hadn't even cared. He turned back to his partner. "I can't stand anybody thinking they can challenge me. We're winning this, Gardner. Even if I have to drag your dead body out of here at the end."

Tea sweat-dropped. "How inspirational."

"30 SECONDS TO THE STARTING LIIIIIIIIIINES!" a loud voice crowed over the speaker once agian.

Tea quickly peeled off her jacket, finally revealing her dress. It was strapless, and a sort of tye-dyed green color. It went to just above the knees and the skirt flared out at the end. A perfect dancing skirt. Kaiba supposed he could live with it. After seeing some of her previous outfits, he had been worried he'd be stuck with the most embarassing date - er - _partner_.

She quickly smoothed back her pony-tail of curls; checked the straps of her high-heels to make sure they were fastened tight enough. Then she turned and smiled up at Kaiba. "Let's get this show on the road." She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the middle of the floor.

"15 SECONDS! Now, remember: you must remain moving at all times except during the set breaks, partners must be physically touching at all times, if there is an emergency, ONE person of the group can leave for exactly 5 minutes, no longer, as long as they signal to one of the referees and the other partner keeps moving - we will be watching closely - I wish you all the best of luck – LADIES AND GENTLEMEN – START YOUR FEET!"

------------------------

Yay! -Is so proud of self for finally getting ass in gear- This is actually an edited version – there was a longer beginning part that involved shopping but every time I read it, I disliked it more and more, and now it's finally vanished. Please review! They're really what makes me feel guilty about procrastinating on updating.

--DixieGoddess

Song Quote: Anything you can do I can do better – I can do anything better than YOU! – "Anything You Can Do" – Various artists


	4. One Down: 23 To Go

Alright, another month, another chapter... this one's kinda short. Ones after this will be longer, but this one just felt like it should end after this one scene. Besides, everyone's allowed a short chapter once in awhile... So enjoy!

-

Bump

'Grrr...'

Bump "Oops, sorry."

'Grrrrrr...'

Bump - Bang "Oh, pardon."

'I swear... one more person bumps into me, I'm gonna-'

"Oof" Bump "Oh, sorry, man."

Kaiba sharply kicked the idiot who had been the most recent to bump into him and pulled away from Tea. "That's it! I'm outta here!"

"KAIBA!" Tea dove for her partner and yanked him back so he was pressing up against her in a most uncomfortable way.

Seto's eyes widened at the postition he was now in. "Do you mind? What the hell are you doing?"

Tea blushed slightly at her hasty mistake and stepped back so only her hands mantained a tight grip on his coat. "We have to be touching at all times," she hissed, irately. "If a referee or Johnny had seen that and reported us we'd be out!" Her eyes shifted across the hall, looking for anyone who might have noticed their error. Her voice dropped even lower. "Do you think anyone saw?"

Seto rolled his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "What're you gonna do if they did? Whack 'em before they blow our cover?"

Tea's eyes returned to Seto, glaring. "You _could_ act a little more worried, you know. You almost disqualified us and it's only been half an hour! Plus, I think you broke that guy's shin!" She pointed to the man Seto had kicked a moment ago who was in obvious pain. His date was hurridly trying to revive him and make him dance on only one leg if that's what it took. But it was in vain as he finally collapsed to the ground, clutching his shin and dropping his date's hands. The hysterical girl started screaming obscenities at her poor date and tugging on his shirt. The silk shirt ripped quickly and the girl fell to the floor as well. Piercing sobs cut through the hall, and two referees finally ran to the fallen couple. One hooked his hands under the girl's arms and started dragging her, screams, flailing and all, to the door. Once there, she was calmly deposited in a sobbing blob on the sidewalk and the door slammed shut again, cutting off all noise. By that time, the guy had been escorted off the floor to medical assistance.

Everyone almost immediately returned to their previous conversations, seeming to forget all about the melodramatic scene.

Seto's disturbed gazed turned to Tea. Tea looked up at him in a reprimanding way. "See _you_ caused that."

Seto blinked. "Does _every_ freak here take this contest that seriously?"

"Not everyone. But it _can_ get very competitive. Actually, even if you hadn't disabled that guy, something like that would've happened sooner or later. And it's probably not the last one you'll see today." Tea explained everything matter-of-factly. "But still! You should be ashamed of yourself for doing that!"

Seto snorted at her moodswing. "I'm sick of everyone bumping into me. You'd think for a roomful of dancers, the idiots in here would be more coordinated."

"It's very crowded."

"I don't care. I'm out."

"Are you serious?" Tea's grip tightened, refusing to let him ruin anything.

"Do you think_ I'm_ joking?" Seto raised an eyebrow.

"Kaiba! It's only been half an hour!"

"So you've already stated. You're lucky I stuck around this long."

"You can't leave!"

"Sure I can. It's easy. I merely break your hands, walk out that door, step over the hysterical blonde, and get in my car."

"Please, no! Please, Kaiba! _Pleeeeeeeease_?" She gazed up at him with a puppy-dog look.

Seto laughed shortly. "You've been hanging around Yugi too long. You honestly think your ugly face contorted like that is going to persuade me?"

Forcibly pushing the insult to the back of her mind, but making a mental note to return to it later, Tea gripped onto Seto's jacket as tight as she could, all the while, continuing to sway them both slightly to the music. "Please, Kaiba! I'll do anything!"

Seto smirked and looked down at her pleading face. "Are you, Tea Gardner, tying to _bribe_ me?"

"Depends. Would it work?"

"No."

Tea sighed and then proceeded to mentally smack herself for begging Kaiba for anything. Then, again, it's not like she hadn't done it before. Her head tilted and her eyes kept a steady gaze on their barely moving feet. After a minute, she raised her eyes to meet Seto's again. She smiled.

Seto immediately became disconcerted. "What the hell are you smiling for?"

Tea continued to smile up at him and spoke in a cheerful voice. "You're not leaving," she stated as though it were a fact.

Seto's eyebrow twitched. "And just _what_ makes you so sure about that?" he demanded.

"Number one: you vowed that we were gonna win this because Johnny challenged you. And number two: if you truly wanted to leave, you could've done so by now. And you're still standing here. You're just being cranky."

Seto blinked down at his dance partner's still smiling face and couldn't find the words to argue with her. After all, she was right, wasn't she? Maybe she wasn't as stupid as she came off as sometimes. She -did- seem to have good perception skills.

He felt her hands finally loosen their death grip on his jacket. Her right hand returned to his own left hand, and the other slid up to his shoulder. She nonchalantly stepped closer, still smiling, and looked up at Seto. Her smile widened even more. "No comment?"

Breaking out of his daze, Seto snorted and gripped her waist as he was supposed to; though perhaps a little harsher than necessary.

"Ow! Not so hard!"

"Problems over here?" The haughty tone caused both to whip their heads to glare at Johnny. The male dancer was very actively dancing with his skanky partner, but managed to look mocking nonetheless.

"None whatsoever," Seto growled.

"Going kinda slow there. Losing stamina already? Makes sense, considering how out of shape you must be from sitting on your ass all day staring at a computer screen."

"Careful, Stepps. Dance too fast and your nuts might fly off. Oh wait, you don't need to worry about that anyway. Never mind."

Johnny frowned. "Yeah... well... neither do you!"

Seto laughed. "That was _not_ a serious comeback."

Johnny opened and closed his mouth a few times before composing himself as best he could. "Come on, babe. The least we can do is leave these losers to fail miserably in peace." With that, they both hurridly danced off to reclaim their dignity.

Seto returned his attention to Tea. "What's wrong with _you_?" he asked, noticing her disgruntled features.

"Your hand is still hurting my side," she ground out with clenched teeth.

"Heh..." Seto loosened his grip. "That'll teach you not to get so buddy-buddy with me next time. And don't _ever_ act like you know what I'm thinking or what I will and will not do. The only reason we're continuing is because -I- say we are. Not because you think you're some kind of all-knowing psychiatrist. If that chromosome-challenged moron hadn't decided to sashay by just now, I _would_ be gone."

Tea glowered up at her snide partner. 'So much for being civil.' "So _what _exactly was that comment about my face being_ ugly_?"

Seto smirked, recounting his earlier statement. He opened his mouth to make some smart-ass remark but was interrupted by an annoyingly chipper voice over the speaker. "Attention dancers! One hour down; 23 to go!"

Looking down at his partner's head, thinking about the torture he had had to endure over only the first hour of this 24 hour madness, the young CEO inwardly groaned. He couldn't leave. He _wouldn't_ leave. He had said himself that he was going to beat Johnny no matter what.

23 hours...

'I'm really hating my manipulative little brother right now...'

-

That's it for now... I know, it's short. You'll live. I'm tired, and I finally decided to post this for only 2 reasons: I love you, and Hannah would kill me if I held off on it any longer. Alright, I'm in a pretty dull, not-  
very-clever-mood, so come up with your own witty closing line.

Song Quote of the Week: Even when his eyes met mine, His slamming moves were out of time, Can't you just feel the groove, Why don't you move, It's easy can't you see, Take my hands and dance with me- "If U Can't Dance" - Spice Girls


	5. Friends and Feuds

Yay! I updated! Hannah should be happy... if she's not, I'll hunt her down and kill her. I think this one's longer than the last one. At least, it felt that way when I was writing it. But we all know writing time and reading time is very different, and it pisses authors off to no end. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

A very dull silence had fallen over the two teenagers since the "Seto-threatening-to-leave" incident. Tea was starting blankly into Seto's chest, which should have disturbed him had he not been staring just as blankly at the nearby wall. 

Tea finally managed to blink and break her staring contest with Seto's shirt and looked up at her partner. He either didn't notice or didn't care and kept gazing over her head. She scowled. Oh, now he was just planning to _ignore_ her? As if!

Wanting to get her point across, but not wanting to piss off her partner again, Tea decided to find a safe topic of conversation to start off on. Scanning him up and down, she quickly formed her opening line.

"You like to wear a lot of trenchcoats."

Seto blinked and looked down at her, face stoic. "You laugh like a cow."

Tea's eyebrow twitched. "Kaiba, I wasn't insulting you."

He blinked at her. "Oh."

Tea waited expectantly for some sort of "sorry" to follow this revelation. After all, what right did he have to insult her if she hadn't been insulting him? When nothing came, she stared a little more intensely at the CEO, trying to get him to pick up on the silent hint. Seto caught it.

"If you're waiting for an apology, forget it. Just because my comment was out of context doesn't mean it wasn't true. You really do laugh like a cow."

Tea's mouth became a very thin line as she fought to control her temper. Aside from being an obviously derogatory remark, she was slightly confused as to how anyone could laugh like a _cow_. "_Eh-hem_. Kaiba?" she asked, attempting sweetness. He looked back at her. "How can anyone laugh like a cow?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but you pull it off flawlessly. You got some real unique talent there, Gardner."

Tea's eyes blazed now. "You know what your problem is, Kaiba?" she screeched. But Seto never got to find out what his problem was, because Tea was suddenly distracted by a cheerful voice from behind him, calling out to her. He suddenly went rigid. He knew that damn voice.

As Tea removed one hand to wave enthusiastically, he slowly turned his head as if to prolong the inevitable. Sure enough, there was little Yugi, looking annoyingly chipper and carefree. And flanking him like two retarded bodyguards were a very drowsy looking Tristan and Joey. Joey's hair was sticking up everywhere worse than usual, and had he been anymore out if it, a line of drool would have been dribbling out of his gaping mouth. If they had been closer, Seto would've made some 'mutt' comment, but he didn't feel like shouting across the hall. So he simply pretended he wasn't at all interested in their presence and turned back around to continue staring at his wall for the next 22 and half hours.

Unfortunately, Tea and her friends had other plans. She started dragging him toward the sidelines where the three had found chairs to sit and watch. Seeing what she was doing, the taller and stronger of the two dug his heels into the floor. "What the hell are you doing?" he snapped.

"Going to talk to my friends."

"I don't want to be anywhere nearyour group of misfits. It's enough that I have to be permanently attached to _you_ for 24 hours."

"Kaiba! I wanna talk to my friends!"

"Too bad, woman!"

"_You_ don't have to talk to them!"

"Well, that's a given, idiot. I still don't want to be close to them."

"Kaiba..." Tea growled.

Seto merely smirked at her. "Are you seriously trying to _threaten_ me? We both know that I have complete control over this situation. I'm bigger, I'm stronger, and I don't wanna go near there. You, on the other hand, are small and weak, and since you don't want to lose, you can't remove yourself. If you do, you're disqualified, and I'll be more than happy to just go home." His eyes traveled over her head to look at her friends who were all watching the exchange with perplexed, wide-eyed looks on their faces, obviously wondering what the hell was going on. He smirked at them, then returned to Tea. "So, what's it gonna be Gardner? Disqualify ourselves or stay away from the morons? I'm fine with either one."

Tea glared, shaking slightly. Damn it all, he was right. He was much bigger and way stronger than her. He wouldn't be going anywhere he didn't want to. And the only way she could go on to do something he didn't want her to do was to disqualify herself. Her lips trembled as she tried to think up some kind of comeback, but she finally heaved a humongous sigh. He had gotten her.

She glanced over her shoulder to give her friends a pitying look, then returned to swaying slightly with Kaiba.

The three friends looked utterly confused, and Joey, who had been able to snap himself awake at the sight of Tea and Kaiba holding eachother, looked thoroughly pissed off as well.

Tristan slumped back in his seat, watching the two on the dance floor. "Wonder what's up with them."

Joey threw himself back into his chair as well. "I dunno, but watching 'em dance together is disturbing. I wonder how long Tea's actually gonna be able to put up with this. If it was me, I woulda killed him after 30 seconds."

Tristan cocked an amusedeyebrow at his friend. "Why would _you_ be dancing with _Kaiba_?"

"Shut up, Tristan! I was just using it as an example to explain how horrifying the situation is."

Yugi was tuning out his two friends and watching Tea and Kaiba instead. They were back to talking, but it wasn't the kind of arguing they were doing before. True, Kaiba still looked slightly disgruntled, but what else is new? "Wonder what they're discussing now?"

Kaiba glanced over at the three boys watching them like hawks. Dammit! Why couldn't they just mind their own business? What the hell were they even doing here this early anyway? "I thought you said your friends didn't usually show up until one. It's only 20 to ten."

Tea shrugged. "They usually_ don't_ show up until one. Tristan and Joey hate waking up before noon in the summer. And Yugi doesn't really enjoy sitting around alone."

"What about Yami? Where's _that_ little pissant?"

"He's out of town."

Seto made a face of pretend shock. "He's _gone_? _Without _Yugi? God, I thought those two would self combust if they were ever apart from eachother for more than ten minutes."

Tea gave him a half-hearted glare. She really didn't want to stage a loud argument with Kaiba in front of her friends. They might become worried, and, knowing Joey and Tristan, run out onto the floor and start trying to kill her partner. "Don't make fun of them just because they're close."

"Close doesn't even begin to describe them. More like stivy, or stifling."

"Shut up, Kaiba." Tea turned her head away.

Kaiba let a smirk cross his features. "Losing steam already, Gardner? We haven't even been here two hours yet. How am I supposed to stay awake if you're not even going to be verbally stimulating for me?"

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Look, I don't want to pick a fight in front Yugi, Tristan, and Joey. They'll get upset and come over here to defend me. Then, you'll get in a big fight with them, and suddenly all hell breaks loose, and we're disqualified."

"Aww, you're little friends still come to your defense when somebody says something mean? That's so sweet." Seto drawled in mocking voice.

Tea bit her lip. "Look, if we just go over there and let them know that everything's all right, they might stop staring at us."

Seto's gaze shifted to the three staring guys over by the wall who were still watching them as though they were the most interesting thing they'd ever laid eyes on. Then again, being as Tea Gardner and Seto Kaiba were not exactly expected to be dancing together under any circumstances, they probably _were_ the most interesting thing the three had ever seen.

"Fine."

Tea smiled broadly.

"But you have to tell them to stop staring at us! If they don't, I'll drag you back over there and kick their heads off."

"Deal." Still grinning, Tea led a reluctant Seto over to her three friends who immediately sat up straight upon her arrival as if anticipating some action. "Hey guys! You're all here so early."

"Tell me about it," Joey grumbled.

"We just figured you could use as much support from us as possible today," Tristan answered, not bothering to be subtle at all, and even looking right at Kaiba as he said it.

Seto, who had turned his head resolutely away from the group, caught the comment and noticed the meaningful look out of his peripheral vision. He snorted softly, but refused to respond. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner they could get away from the accusing looks. For God's sake, he was doing their friend a favor! He didn't _have_ to be here! He could leave anytime he wanted! But he was still around, dammit! _'Bunch of ingrates,'_ he thought bitterly. _'This is absolutely the last time I do anything for any of them.'_

Tea noticed the tension and giggled nervously. "Oh, well, that was nice of you. But we're fine. No problems here. I mean, if you guys wanted to go get something to eat or something, you're more than free to go. Kaiba and I are fine on our own."

The three boys looked skeptical. "Fine, huh?" Joey asked suspciously. "Then what was with that little argument awhile ago?"

Tea laughed unconvincingly again. "Argument? That wasn't an arugment! We were just discussing something... something related to dance."

"Right," Joey said, obviously not believing her.

Yugi looked up at Kaiba now and attempted a smile. "So, Kaiba, how you holding up?"

Seto didn't answer him, but muttered to Tea out of the corner of his mouth instead. "You said I didn't have to talk to them."

Both Tea and Yugi sighed. It had been a long shot anyway.

"Well, we're gonna go back to the middle of the floor now." Tea smiled at her friends and started to dance away. Seto held her back.

"Tell them not to stare at us anymore," he demanded.

Joey jumped up defensively. "We'll look at whoever we want, Kaiba! You may think you can control everyone, but you can't control our eyes!"

Kaiba didn't respond for a moment, and Joey smirked, thinking he had got the better of him. He turned to give Yugi and a Tristan a triumphant look, then turned back to the two dancers. Unfortunately, his inattentiveness cost him. Turning around, he barely had time to register a large hand coming at his face before two fingers had stabbed him in the eyes and he stumbled back in pain. "YE-OUCH!"

Yugi and Tristan jumped up to assist Joey, and Tea gasped, nearly letting her grip on her partner slip. "KAIBA!" She slapped him in the chest which hardly seemed to faze him at all. "HOW COULD YOU?"

Seto shrugged innocently. "Simple maneuver, really."

Joey, meanwhile, was kneeling on the ground, screaming for all the world to hear. "MY EYES! HE GOUGED OUT MY EYES! I'M BLINDED! HE BLINDED ME! SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE! CALL THE PARAMEDICS! MY BEAUTIFUL EYES!"

Noticing the stares being attracted by the wounded man's shouts, Seto quickly dragged Tea back to the middle of the floor, getting them lost in the crowd. Tea was still standing on tip-toe trying to see Joey. "Would you relax?" Seto finally snapped. "He'll be fine. He's not blinded. He just won't be able to open his eyes without immense pain for about an hour."

The only way Tea was able to prevent herself from smacking him as hard as she could and storming away was a quick glance at Johnny who staring right back at her, a disgusting sneer on his face, and the announcement that she had now survived two hours of this tortuous task.

* * *

Yaya! Next chapter, Joey whips out a camera... dun dun duuuun! Hehe... please review and I hope to see you again next time! Ok, my song quote doesn't really have a real reference this time, but it's a good song.

Song Quote of the Week: Morals fade, I feel elated, I never thought it'd be this way, Fall apart more every day, But in the end we're all okay- "Cheaters" - Left Front Tire


	6. Kodak Curse

I LIVE! -Cries- I am soooo sorry! But I didn't just abandon it, at least! Thank you to all those who are actually returning after such a long pause, and to those that kept reviewing and sending me messages (fightcomet -). They're what motivate me!

I really hope this is a good enough chapter to tide everyone over.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh, Tarzan, or Kodak.

* * *

Had Seto Kaiba been any less of a man, he would have screamed in a tarzan-like tone, charged across the floor, and beat Joey to death with the stupid little Kodak camera that he now possessed in his grimy fingers. He then might also proceed to light Joey-Corpse on fire and do a tribal dance around it. As it stood, however, Seto was not to be swayed from his stoic attitude by the mere presence of morons.

Yes, he would insult them without mercy if he got close enough to do it in that low, undertoned way of his. But he had long since passed the point where he would go out of his way to pay any sort of attention to the idiots of Yugi's gang.

Where the hell Joey had even _gotten_ the camera or why he felt the need to bring it with him escaped Seto. As far as he knew, Joey hated him with every ounce of his being - of course, that wasn't much, since _Joey_ wasn' t much, but still - so there could be no plausible reason as to why the mutt would want _pictures_ of him. Well, they may have had the intention of being pictures of Tea, but he would inevitably end up in every single one of them. The only thing that could come to Seto's mind was blackmail. But blackmail against him in this situation would also end up as blackmail against Tea, and Joey was far too noble to do that to his friend. Plus, it's not exactly as though this dance marathon was a secret. Anyone who wanted to see them in such a position could easily do so.

Thus, the only conclusion was... Joey was an imbecile.

But like _that_ was a surprise.

If Seto _really_ wanted to, he could simply drag his partner back over there and poke the stupid blonde's eyes again. Watching the flailing idiot agonizingly try to regain the use of his eyes had actually been a very amusing way to pass another dragging hour on the Dance Floor of Hell. It would have been perfect had Tea not been screeching in his ear about being a barbarian and a horrible, horrible man most of the time. However, her nagging had subsided since Joey seemed to heal just fine. Although, Seto was sure it had more to do with exhaustion than the happiness at seeing her friend recovered.

Hour four had started about five minutes ago. It may not seem that long, but constant motion and mental beration from annoying people all morning long was starting to take its toll. Tea had begun moving a bit sluggishly and Seto had to wonder what would become of her by the time hour 10, 15, or even 20 came around. Dear god, the more you broke it down like that, 24 hours was _forever_!

Anyhow, back to Joey and his cursed camera. He hadn't actually_ taken_ any pictures yet. He just kept sashaying back and forth across the little strip of floor the three friends were occupying. The camera was clutched tightly in his hands and, every now and then, he would bring it up to his face as though lining up a shot, but then it was quickly brought back down before he actually did anything. All the while, the blonde boy seemed to be cackling evilly, and the other two simply gave him exasperated looks.

As woozy as Tea was becoming, this strange behavoir from one of her friends had not escaped her notice either. As a matter of fact, it almost seemed as though Tea and Seto would become allies, if only this once, against the terror known as Joey Wheeler. She did not look happy.

Although Seto couldn't really think of a time yet this morning when Tea had had a genuine smile on her face. Sure, she always sported that stupid cheerful grin that she tried to convince everybody with. But when was the last time Seto had actually seen a real _smile_ from her? Huh... probably never. He doubted she ever smiled in _his_ presence. He most likely ticked her off too much to allow her a moment of absolute happiness. Oh well. Too bad, so sad, as the saying goes. It's not like he cared about her smile.

No, not at all.

She probably looked stupid when she smiled.

Just like she laughed like a cow...

She probably smiled like a walrus or something.

Ooh, now she was turning red. My, my, what an interesting color on the girl. And for once, since this terror of an event started, the glare of doom was not being focused on him. That made it even more fun.

It was actually quite amusing when the group of friends started turning against each other. At least from Seto's point of view. They were always such cheesy nutcases about friendship and blah blah blah, -insert a bunch of stuff that Seto never really listens to-, and how love saves everyone. When they started showing that they were indeed human, and not weird, overly-large, cuddly creatures off a children's show, Seto couldn't help but be entertained. Hey, if Tea became mad enough at Joey, she might insist on dragging them to the other side of the room where the others couldn't even see them, let alone distract them. And Seto would have absolutely no objections about that particular decision.

Oh, that's right. Joey. Joey had been the main topic of Seto's thoughts. Somehow thoughts of Joey always led him off to tangents about Tea. That was odd. Although... not really, if Seto thought about it logically. The entire reason Joey was even in his thoughts was because Seto was witnessing him being an idiot. And the only reason Seto had to put up with such things was becasue Joey was here to see Tea, and Tea was here with _him_ and Tea was his partner and she was currently pressed up against... rather tightly. Whoa! When the hell did she get so close? What was she-?

Ah... she was trying to hide from the camera. While the CEO's thoughts had been wandering uncontrollably, Tea had steered him so his back was to the camera and she was completely hidden from view behind his much taller frame.

Clever, Gardner.

Perhaps he should comment on the irony of Tea being the one to hide from her friends, the friends she had so adamently defended numerous times and voluntarily invited here. And here he was, the one who loathed those misfits, being the one exposed to whatever strange activity they were partaking in. My, how the tables have turned.

However, the smart remark died in his throat as he stared down at her head. Her hair really looked nice today. It almost glowed and bounced around her head in a halo of liveliness that it didn't usually posess. Not that he had paid much attention to Tea's hair otherwise, but he noticed enough to be able to make a comparison. Huh... pretty hair... well, it was an improvement to the rest of her. Seto didn't think she was pretty. Heck, no! But that didn't mean he couldn't think certain aspects of her were nice-looking.

It's not like he actually thought she was _ugly_ or anything. She was mediocre. Ok, so the eyes were quite nice too. When they weren't busy glaring. A nice shade of blue... lighter than his... it fit with their different personalities, he supposed.

Speaking of personalities, Tea was being strangely quiet in contrast to her usual boisterous personality. Maybe she was hoping he wouldn't notice the way she was using him as a human shield... probably thought he'd object. Well, he should! After all, why should _he_ be exposed to the damn camera when it was _her_ friends who were being annoying.

Oh, yeah... the camera.

Seto glanced over his shoulder.

Yep. The moron was still prancing around with his camera. Seto vaguely wondered if he had actually taken some pictures while he had been distracted.

Dammit! He had gotten distracted again! By Tea.

Tea, who, by the way, was still pressing herself unnecessarily close to him.

What gives?

He was certainly large enough to cover up her more petite frame if she just stood behind him normally. There was no need to squish herself into his chest like that. And why was she so afraid of the camera anyway? Was she really that embarassed to have photographic proof of what she had done?

Seto felt a surge of anger.

What right did _she_ have to be humiliated? This entire incident was _her_ fault! _She_ had asked _him_ to be her partner! If anyone had a right to be uncomfortable, it was _him_! But he didn't _get _uncomforable. Because he was Seto Kaiba.

That's right! He was _Seto Kaiba_! If anything, Miss Tea Gardner should be honored to have her picture taken with him! It was most likely the only time there would ever be a chance of it happening ever again. She should _jump _at the chance, dammit!

Wait... hold up.

He was supposed to be concentrating on that baffoon and his camera! Thoughts only stayed on the camera for a few seconds and then veered off to random thoughts about Tea! This was beyond insane. The mere presence of the idiotic gang was rubbing off on him. He should really just stop thinking altogether.

Seto glanced over his shoulder again. Joey still held the camera within his slimy grasp, a somewhat evil smirk on his features. He was smirking right at Kaiba. What the hell did he have to smirk about? Getting a good shot of the back of Seto's head?

A small cough from Tea reverberated through the young CEO's chest as they were still tightly bunched together. The thought that he should push her away and yell something insulting at her floated through his mind. But he never acted on it. He decided to blame that fact on his impending tiredness. It's not like he was ok with it. Not like she was warm and comforting after several hours of dancing. Not like he needed human contact or anything... Nope. He was frikin' tired and that was that.

The loud, irritating voice of the proctor of this event rang over the crowd. Hour four had ended.

Ended?

He had spent that entire hour doing almost nothing but thinking about Tea.

When he was supposed to be thinking about the camera. The enchanted camera that seemed to direct his thoughts, in turn, to the girl in his arms every time the _camera_ crossed his thoughts.

Narrowing his eyes at the still-smriking mutt behind him, Seto's glare flickered back and forth between the camera and the leer.

Drawing his attention to Tea through thoughts of a camera...

If he hadn't known any better - both on the fact that Joey hated him, and that Joey was too stupid to think up such a scheme - he may have thought that had been the blonde's plan all along.

* * *

Dun dun dun... Clever Joey? Probably not... Oh well XD

I really hope this isn't riddled with typos and crap... I only reviewed over it once. If there's anything big and noticeable, please tell me. I'll fix it later.

Song Quote of the Week: Look at her, she looks at me, She's got me thinking about her constantly- "Crazy For This Girl" - Evan and Jaron

--DixieGoddess


	7. Bonding and Bondage

I have updated! Be happy... be very very happy. Yep... I have nothing else to say. Oh, and for some reason, that line button that allows you to put in a line between paragraphs isn't working... hasn't been working for the past week or more maybe. So I have to come up with some other way to put in breaks. Sorry if it looks stupid.

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"What the hell is he doing?"

Seto jumped slightly at the sound of Tea's groggy voice, which hadn't been heard in a good hour. He blinked slowly, wondering what on earth she could be talking about, when he realized that she had finally decided to speak up about her moronic friend and his camera. He glanced at the top of her head, as she hadn't decided to lift it when she spoke and it was still buried in his chest. "I can't believe you're _just_ mentioning this now."

Tea sighed, but stayed in her position. "Well, I considered it earlier, but I'm tired. It took me that long to work up the energy to deal with it."

"Dear god, Gardner – it's only hour 5. You can't possibly be so tired that it takes you an entire hour to form a sentence."

"It does if I'm trying to form a proper sentence."

"Ah, yes," Seto snorted. "'_What the hell is he doing'"_ - so eloquent"

"Shut up."

Seto smirked.

All was silent for a moment before Tea's soft voice drifted up to Seto's ears again. "You know, despite his incessant weirdness, he's really not that bad a guy." Seto glanced down, then to the sidelines, but didn't respond. The brunette girl shifted tiredly. "I mean, I know _you_ only see his bad side… but really, that's not how he is most of the time."

Seto could have easily made some sort of caustic remark here, but he didn't. He merely grunted in a manner that was neither agreement nor dissent.

"You know, when my mom died, all my friends tried to be there for me, of course. And I appreciated their efforts… but most of them didn't really know what to do except offer to listen if I wanted to talk."

Seto was glad Tea wasn't looking at his face, for he was sure it was etched into uncharacteristic shock and a little bit of sympathy. Tea's mom was dead? When did this happen? The friend quartet hadn't been friends until the beginning of high school. (Seto didn't know how he knew this, he just did.) So it must have happened not too long ago. Seto was actually surprised that he hadn't known anything. True, he wasn't exactly a close acquaintance, but still, he had figured he always knew (not by choice) about the big events in each of their lives. Especially their big personal problems. How could this incident have escaped his knowledge?

"But I didn't really want to talk. So I basically just wandered around like a zombie every day, not really caring either way what happened. And Joey was the only one who was really able to cheer me up." She stopped for a moment as a small smile crept onto her face. "I was walking up to school one day and suddenly he ran up behind me and whirled me around. And he shoved these two tickets in my face. And then he yanked me off to this new amusement park that had just opened up, making us skip school and everything.

"We got in soooooo much trouble for that. But it was the best day ever. We just goofed off at the park. And the entire time we were there, I kept expecting him to be luring me into a sense of security so he could try to get me to talk again. I was waitin' for it and waitin' for it… just ready to get mad and storm off when he revealed that he had tricked me."

The duo had turned now so their sides were facing the group. Tea gazed at the blonde in an adoring fashion while Seto merely glanced at him, waiting to hear the rest of Tea's story. Joey was now screwing around with his camera and Tristan was yelling at him – it looked like the idiot had broken it.

Tea gave a little breath of laughter. "But he never did. He never asked… he never tried to get me to talk… he didn't even act nervous and cautious around me like everyone had for the past few weeks. He just acted weird… and like himself. And we had fun. _I _actually had fun."

Seto nodded slightly, unconscious of the fact that he was willingly listening to every word that came out of Tea Gardner's mouth.

"And the thing that really got me…" The girl's breath hitched a bit in what sounded suspiciously like an attempt to hold back tears. "When he dropped me back off at home that night… he just smiled at me and said 'Thanks for coming with me today Tea. I was in kind of a bad mood but this trip really cheered me up. I'm glad you were there, otherwise it wouldn't have been any fun by myself.' Can you believe that?" Tea sniffed. "After the weeks of walking around in a depression, he was thanking _me_ for cheering _him_ up. It really made me… I dunno… realize that it was ok to be happy again.

"I know he really _did_ do that to cheer _me_ up, but still… the way that he did it was so…"

"Wheeler."

"Yeah… just totally out of the blue and upbeat; so obvious and still somewhat subtle."

"Sounds like something stupid he'd do," Seto agreed.

"Stupid but sweet." Tea nodded. "That's Joey."

The CEO glanced to the side at the blonde once again and couldn't help the slight swelling of what…? Jealously maybe? At the way the mutt's name rolled so affectionately off Tea's tongue. Did the dancer have a thing for the stupid dog? If so, why hadn't she asked _him_ to be her partner? Why bring Seto here just so she could rub it in his face how much better that stupid Joey Wheeler was than him?

It wasn't jealously in the sense that he was upset that Tea's affection wasn't on him – hell no! Of course not! It was the fact that she was probably aware of how insulting comparing the two of them was. No, she hadn't said anything about how horrible Kaiba was compared to Joey, but the man knew she was thinking it. That pissed him off.

And here he was feeling sorry for her and her loss. What was _wrong_ with him? He should have known something was up the minute she started her sob story. Why on earth would she tell _him_ something like that without some sort of ulterior motive? She was just looking for some subtle way to crush his pride. He should tell her off… he really should.

Tea turned her head to the side to survey the room, then suddenly straightened up, all trace of tiredness gone from her demeanor. Seto quirked an eyebrow. "Johnny," Tea whispered hurriedly.

Seto glanced up and noticed that, indeed, Johnny and his partner were drawing near, still dancing energetically among the other worn-out contestants. "So?"

Tea started to force him to dance faster. "Well, come on, Kaiba! We can't look like we're exhausted already!"

"But you _are_ exhausted already."

"But if he sees that, he'll torment us to no end! Let's go, Kaiba! Look alive!"

Seto resolutely moved at his slow swaying pace. "I don't feel like prancing around like those two idiots. Who cares how lively we look? If they want to wear themselves out before we're even halfway through, let them - but don't make us follow in their footsteps!" Tea glared at him. "I'm serious, Gardner. I'm quite happy with the 'dancing' I'm already doing. And nothing you do is going to change that."

Tea shot Kaiba one last death glare, then looked over her shoulder to see where their rival duo was. They were almost upon them! Tea's mind whirled. Kaiba may not care that they looked like lazy losers, but _she_ did! And Johnny was going to! And she was not going to present herself that way in front of him! This was too important!

She glanced back at Seto's determined face. She couldn't get him to move faster by force - she was way too weak. But there had to be _something_… A thought sprang to mind… but… She glanced at Johnny, then Kaiba again. No way! Kaiba would kill her! And it would be way too embarrassing! But… Johnny…

Save pride by not doing it - or save face by going for it…

Tea closed her eyes tightly and sighed. _'It's not like I haven't humiliated myself in front of him a thousand times already.'_

Seto let a half-curious, half-worried look cross his face when Tea's eyes suddenly snapped open and locked their gaze on him with a new flare behind them. "Alright, Kaiba. You leave me no choice."

"Hey, Gardner! Dwindling down already?" Johnny's mocking voice floated nearby.

Taking a deep breath and praying to any god that may be listening to grant Kaiba the mercy not to murder her - at least until she won - she quickly reached a hand behind her partner, found her goal, and squeezed tightly.

If Seto had been one to squeak in an undignified matter, he would have done so. However, Seto Kaiba did not squeak. He gave a low, manly gasp of surprise, and jumped a good foot or two in the air. Tea seized her opportunity to catch him off balance and start swinging him around to make it seem as though they were still going strong. "Nope! We're still pretty damn vivacious!"

Johnny and his partner gave the two a weird look. While they hadn't seen the hand, as they were on the opposite side, they still noticed something strange about the way the CEO was acting. And Johnny might have asked, had Seto not suddenly regained control of his and his partner's movements and began glaring promises of mass destruction right at his female companion. The other two quickly shimmied away.

Back on the sidelines, three teenagers were frozen in place with wide gaping mouths and idiotic looks on their faces. Yugi was the first to recover the use of his voice. "Did - did Tea just grab Kaiba's…"

"Ass?" Tristan supplied monotonously.

"Yeah."

Joey silently dropped his camera, plodded back to his chair, and curled up in the fetal position.

On the dance floor, Seto looked like he was about to explode. Tea held up one hand, trying to calm him. "Please, _please_, Kaiba! Don't be upset!"

"YOU EXPECT ME NOT TO BE UPSET?"

Tea laughed nervously. "Look, I was just trying to wake you up a little…"

"If I need to 'wake up a little', we can dance over to the coffee station! You don't need to grab my ass!"

"I didn't _grab_ it, I _squeezed_ it."

"THAT'S EVEN WORSE!"

"Kaiba, please… you are making a spectacle…" Tea murmured, glancing around at all the dancers whose attention had been drawn to the argument.

"_I'M_ MAKING A SPECTACLE? I'M NOT THE ONE GOING AROUND GRABBING PEOPLE'S ASSES!"

Tea smiled sweetly. "It's a very nice ass." She inwardly grimaced. He was never going to buy that.

"I _KNOW_ IT'S A NICE ASS! IT'S MY ASS! I DON'T NEED _YOU_ TO TELL ME ABOUT THE CONDITION OF _MY_ ASS!"

Tea desperately tried to shush her partner. "Kaiba… Kaiba, _please_! I swear, I will never do anything like that again…"

"Damn right you won't! I'll take your damn head off!"

"Look, I'm sorry! I'm tired! You're tired! We're all tired! My brain isn't working right!" _'God, it **really** isn't working right, is it?'_ "Could - could we just forget that this ever happened?"

"You mean forget that you just molested me like some perverted dominatrix?"

"D - Dominatrix?" Tea couldn't help but blush as the statment brought even more turned heads in their direction. "I only grabbed your ass - I didn't _whip_ it or anything! Geez, Kaiba! Keep it down, would ya?"

"So I should keep it down and act like you didn't just treat me like some sort of personal sex toy?"

Tea squeezed her eyes shut. There was no use arguing with Kaiba - he was being ridiculous. "Yes… come on, let's just agree to never mention it ever again. Please?"

Tea looked so desperate now that Seto almost felt sorry for her. Almost. After all, what right did she have to just go grabbing at his goods? Crazy bitch - he should have anticipated weird crap like this from her at the very beginning when she was foolish enough to ask him to be her partner.

He huffed. Tea looked at him hopefully. Seto quickly reached around and returned the favor.

Tea yelped and jumped and glared. But before she could get an obscenity out of her mouth, he smirked. "Payback."

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And now we finally get to the bonding... yeah, I figured I had made enough fluff and funny chapters. Of course, I still tried to add an element of humor to the chapter. But now it's time for some of the serious relationship stuff. Please review! I love you!

Song Quote of the Week: It's not always rainbows and butterflies, It's compromise that moves us along - "She Will Be Loved" - Maroon 5

--DixieGoddess


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